Inhabitots | Your guide to green parenting, eco baby & green kids

6 Eco-Friendly Lacing Toys That Will Hone Your Child’s Dexterity

by Marni Fogelson-Teel, 05/24/13 filed under: eco toddler, green family, green gifts, green kids, green toys, kids entertainment

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Miniature Lille Huset Dollhouses are Cute and Customizable

by Jennifer Chait, 05/24/13 filed under: diy kids crafts, eco play, green design, green kids

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Upcycle Your T-Shirts Into a Blanket with Project Repat

by Alyssa Alimurung, 05/24/13 filed under: craft, eco decor, green bedding, green design

With summer right around the corner, your family is bound to start accumulating an onslaught of T-shirts from summer camp, sports games and volunteering events. Even if you try to avoid freebie Tees, you’re still stuck with a pile of T-shirts your kids have outgrown. Here’s a crafty tip: Project Repat transforms your pile of obsolete Tees into awesome T-shirt blankets that are perfect for park and picnic season. You get to preserve all the memories intertwined in the clothing while supporting textile jobs in the USA.

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VIDEO HOW TO: Get Started With Cloth Diapers

by Julie Seguss, 05/23/13 filed under: green baby, green diapers, how-to, video

Are you still using disposable diapers? Lots of American parents are — an estimated 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used and thrown out in the US each year, and those stinky disposable diapers sit without decomposing for over 500 years (or more!) in landfill! Gross, right? To avoid a nasty, diaper-filled Wall-E vision of the future for your grandchildren, (and to help your kids potty-train earlier), we recommend all parents to consider cloth diapering. Getting started with cloth diapers can seem like a daunting task. But with well-designed hybrid cloth diapers that use a combination of washable inserts and super-stylin’ shells, green diapering is not what it used to be and it’s easy enough for even the most sleep-deprived new parents to handle. What’s more, chemical-free cloth diapers are better for your baby’s skin, will help your tot potty train earlier and you’ll save money in the long run. So we got together with Carolyn Sutton of Charlie Banana to get a primer in cloth diapering. Keep reading to find out what you need and how to get organized, the best ways to launder green diapers and the answer to everyone’s burning question, “What in the world do you do with the poo?”

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HOW TO: Make Bright Pink Hummus Dyed with Raw Beetroot

by Ana Lisa Alperovich, 05/23/13 filed under: cooking, food, green party, recipe, vegan cooking

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Fourth-Grader’s Undercover Documentary Film Exposes New York’s Gross School Lunches

by Taz Loomans, 05/22/13 filed under: education, food

Eleven-year-old Zachary Maxwell, a fourth grade student at P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto in Manhattan’s Little Italy, asked his parents if he could start taking a packed lunch to school — but they didn’t see why he should. School lunches were free, and they sounded fantastic according to the New York City Department of Education website. But Zachary’s parents didn’t know that what was really being served at his school wasn’t at all what was being advertised on the website. So Zachary snuck a camera into his school and filmed what he was being served for lunch for six months, compiling insider footage on the NYC school lunch program.

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EWG Releases 2013 Sunscreen Guide + Ranks Top & Worst Rated Sunscreens

by Jennifer Chait, 05/22/13 filed under: green family, green kids, health & body

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Just in time for the Memorial Day holiday, Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released their 7th annual Sunscreen Guide. Like previous year’s guides, this guide rates the safety and efficacy of more than 1,400 sunscreens, lotions, lip products and makeups that claim to offer sun protection. Each year EWG rates the various sun protection products on various factors, including:

Health hazards – which includes an ingredient assessment.
Efficacy – which figures in UVB protection, UVA protection, balance of UVA/UVB protection and sunscreen stability.
Safety – which is based on the ingredient health hazard scoring system of EWG’s Skin Deep database.

The overall rating for each sun protection product is calculated using an EWG formula that reflects a combination of the above factors. The good news: this year, 184 beach & sport sunscreens met EWG’s criteria for safety and efficiency. The bad news: those 184 products represent just one quarter of all sunscreens reviewed in 2013, meaning many sunscreen products on the market offer poor skin protection and contain harmful ingredients with potentially serious safety concerns. Keep reading to see key facts about this year’s sunscreen guide as well as the top rated and worst rated sunscreen choices of 2013.

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Spit Cleaning Your Baby’s Pacifier May Lessen His Risk of Developing Eczema & Asthma

by Sherrell Dorsey, 05/22/13 filed under: baby gadgets, gear for parents, health & body, news

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

Every parent has watched in slow motion horror as their baby’s beloved pacifier has fallen on public ground while out and about. And many parents have probably also used their own spit to suck the pacifier clean, when washing it off properly wasn’t an option. Turns out, this gesture may actually be beneficial to your baby. According to a new study published in Pediatrics and conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, sharing oral bacteria with your bambino may help keep your child from developing allergies including eczema and asthma.

Swapping spit with your kids is often debated across media platforms, scientists and parents. When Alicia Silverstone’s video of pre-chewing her baby’s food went viral, many people expressed both their support and their disapproval in regards to her methods. Though not completely conclusive, the study does draw on the positive relationship between parent-to-child microbial interaction and its promotion of the development of a child’s healthy immune system through established natural diversity of bacteria.